Video capture

Just trying to capture some videos that I've recorded using my mini-dv camcorder to save onto my hard disc, with a view to some possible editing and making up DVD's.

I've tried to use the lovely Microsoft Movie Maker, and it says it's connected correctly, then says it's starting the capture and then.................................... nothing.

Does anyone know of a free product that will reliably capture from a mini DV camera? It's connected via a firewire PCMCIA card in the laptop, and Windows knows what it is, just won't actually go as far as getting the video off it.

I have done it several times before, on my old and now sadly defunct desktop, which had about a 10th the speed and a quarter of the memory of this machine and, whilst a little slow, it worked ok.

Any ideas gratefully received.

Cheers

Scoobs

 

You can try VideoDVD Maker. It's a free program that does just what it says, and it mentions that you can import from just about any source, including DV cameras. It's free from ProtectedSoft Ltd.
http://www.protectedsoft.com/products.php
I haven't used it personally, but a friend has and he says it works fine... check it out!